Beta testers shouldn't be so critical of a game they're supposed to be testing, they are though. It's always a bad idea for a developer to release something to the public, even if it's just for testing, if it's unfinished and problematic.
Sorry for being profound, but I feel that I need to be.
Originally posted by lancecage Beta testers shouldn't be so critical of a game they're supposed to be testing, they are though. It's always a bad idea for a developer to release something to the public, even if it's just for testing, if it's unfinished and problematic. Sorry for being profound, but I feel that I need to be.
In general, you are right. But the critical issue why everyone is so pissed is (for the most part I think) that DnL devs said that SOG is NOT a beta. People expected to play a completed game, well with some bugs maybe, with less content, maybe, but not with zero content, and half of the features that devs said WOULD be in SOG. That single fact that put everyone on the offensive towards SOG and Farlan in general. To put the oil into fire, later on Farlan (or someone from the devs) did confirm that SOG WAS actually a beta. But they did that AFTER preorders, AFTER even the game went live (or rather tried to go live since most of the time servers etiehr were down or were crashing people left and right).
In comparison with other games i betaed, WoW had by far the most stable beta, with E&B was the lest stable, but even E&B had a more or less playable game, and they fixed bugs fairly quickly.
If you look back at Q&A #7 , dated Dec 5, 05 ( 8 days before SOG release) the interviewers first question was about it being a BETA. Farlan/AD did NOT refute this fact.
Then they came back and said it was NOT a Beta.
Then it WAS a BETA. (a few posts on the dnl forums prove this).
Now again, its not a BETA.
It appears that when things are going well, its an official BETA. When people find out really just how crappy it is in all respects, its NOT an official BETA.
Also appears that even though the game had not yet been released, Farlan stated the release went well and is going good????????
hmmmm, typo on the interview date mayhaps? Or did they take that long to answer the interviewers questions?
It is fair to kick someone when they are down because they told us it was beta and now it is not even the game they intend to release. Come on! What they did was everyone working for them to start all over because what they had was crap. RE-DO PLEASE!
I thought nothing can beat SOE and their load of crap with Star Wars Galaxies but it seems I was wrong!!! LOL
These guys from Dark and Light just took the Oscar-Nobelprize-PurpleHeart-Gold Medal of lies, deception, trickery and fraud!.
Hats off to Dana Massey and this article!! Man, this kind of interviews: direct to the point, straight and clear, are what have this site as top number 1 in MMOs reviews. Grats and thanks for giving us this option.
good interview, but dissappointing outcome, so to speak. as many have pointed out, so do I believe that SoG is a form of a beta - not the game itself per se, but for the platform, i.e. server architecture, maintenance, etc. It is basically stated in the interview!
when i made such a similar statement in the DnL forums in November I think, man did I get spammed. now it seems, many seem to agree. Doesn't give much confidence in the launch of DnL. Had considered the game, but haven't even been to the forums since the sog launch. Now I think I will only get it if all my online buddies will do and even then I will think twice about it.
Originally posted by bruse to previous poster Cholayna.. They ain't lying, just failing to meat the set goals. Due to the server problems everything has been delayed, that's what they say anyway.. Let's judge the game when it's released and functional, it's not fair to kick someone who's already lying down
they are lies. Flat out. Bald-faced lies. Excuse after excuse does NOT make otherwise. Take a gander at alllll the Q&A's ----- riddled with flat out lies, half-truths and total hogwash. Developers knowingly stating facts that are untrue -- thats called a lie.
Kicking them while they are down? oh okay, lets just let them get a little more weasel in their maneuvers to the mmo community and pat them on the head, say it will be okay smoochikins and forget all about the bloody, torn up, ripped apart player over on the curb huh?
Originally posted by docminus good interview, but dissappointing outcome, so to speak. as many have pointed out, so do I believe that SoG is a form of a beta - not the game itself per se, but for the platform, i.e. server architecture, maintenance, etc. It is basically stated in the interview! when i made such a similar statement in the DnL forums in November I think, man did I get spammed. now it seems, many seem to agree. Doesn't give much confidence in the launch of DnL. Had considered the game, but haven't even been to the forums since the sog launch. Now I think I will only get it if all my online buddies will do and even then I will think twice about it.
Yes. Its quite obvious the machinations this company and their cohort Alchemic Dreams have a mastery of the snake oil salesman down pat. Anything they say, they come back with "we really meant this", or semantics all the way." we said "should" not "will". And thus absolve themselves of the lie.
Making any sort of derogatory, even slightly detrimental, altho probably more constructive criticism if taken that way, is a no-no on their boards. You will be censored. You will be locked and closed. And in some cases, you will be banned - altho you are still free to play the crappy contraption they call a game. You will be flamed horribly. You will be called names, argued down with the most inane "reasonings" and finally, a new line will come that says this game is the end-all-be-all-of-all-mmo's.
Some of the Moderators on the forums are the developers themselves. They have even hired fanbois from the boards as developers! Then again, you have to wonder if the fanbois werent originally the developers anyway! Moderators have been caught in lies countless times. The backpeddling they do is laughable and good for some entertainment when you are bored. Alchemic Dreams , I think, are responsible for the forums? I know they are the GMs in the game itself and responsible for some of the ridiculous things they call "events". LOL Even when it screws up, due to lack of GM forethought, they come back and say "yes! thats exactly how we planned it!" LOL
Kicking them while they are down -- hmmmm-- as opposed to them ever being "up"? Hardly. There are tooo many reasons this game and the companies responsible for the current state of the fanbase and game itself why this game is, at its current state, a total sham. Read about the origins of the engine itself , a ways back...even that is in contention. Read about one of the current developers reputation and work history..contentuious. From the start this game and its company/companies have traveled a low road. By continuing on in the same path, they are going even lower. Wonder now if the path ahead, the higher one is even able to be seen on the horizon..big world or not.
WEll, it would seem that although the tough interview did indeed bring a little more integrity to the folks at mmorpg.com, it seems they have let that slip again.
They (mmorpg.com) are allowing the developer/spammer/poster at the DNL forums here to STICKY threads regarding SOG. EVen though, this last interview makes it clear that SOG is NOT DNL (supposedly), the folks here at mmorpg.com dont give a rats behind and will whore themselves no matter what.
Originally posted by LilBoPeep WEll, it would seem that although the tough interview did indeed bring a little more integrity to the folks at mmorpg.com, it seems they have let that slip again. They (mmorpg.com) are allowing the developer/spammer/poster at the DNL forums here to STICKY threads regarding SOG. EVen though, this last interview makes it clear that SOG is NOT DNL (supposedly), the folks here at mmorpg.com dont give a rats behind and will whore themselves no matter what. Disappointing mmorpg.com, disappointing indeed.
uhm, i understand your reasoning, but since the (ex-)hype is about dnl, but sog is the one currently ongoing in connection of sorts to dnl, why shouldn't it be discussed here? or stickied? look at the amounts of replies, people want to let of steem regarding this whole "affair".
Wow, big applause for mmorpg.com to pose such direct questions. I know it's a thin line because if they start asking too offensive questions developers will hesitate to appear in interviews, but I say better less interviews and then keep the hard line of questions than to appease developers and ask "soft" questions that really doesn't relay any substantial info to the readers here at mmorpg.com.
On another note, eventhough they clearly had some issues DnL devs apparently still has the balls to come out and say " hey, we made a mistake". That's lightyears ahead of $OE who just ignores their community and delete "rebellious" posts at will.
Originally posted by zipit On another note, eventhough they clearly had some issues DnL devs apparently still has the balls to come out and say " hey, we made a mistake". That's lightyears ahead of $OE who just ignores their community and delete "rebellious" posts at will.
Yes, say your sorry with your fingers crossed behind your back, add a few more lies while you are "apologizing" and do the potential fanbase a favor by discounting a pre-order paid upfront and no refund even before they release it, still have the same bugs, same problems, delete "bad" posts and even suspend or ban the bad reporters entirely from the forums, after of course, the mods/devs (who are one and the same) flame you first!
DNL Beta testing pushed back to April.....earlier stated it was to reopen in March...no exact dates given for either
Now they are blaming the previous testers of "not doing their jobs" for the sorry state of the current game. Devs come back and say "internal testing has been ongoing for two years"
so they are blaming the testers , who are the devs, but not the devs cuz that would be bad, so the thread was locked.
They are also saying it would be certain death to DNL if they did NOT release in APril and they would prefer a release with the current state than it being pushed back.
They are also saying that a beta test is not really needed since its perfect in the internal testing....
*("they" being the fanbois and people "in the know" at their forum boards)
This game is truly entertaining just watching what they do and how they backpeddle and the bs they try to make fly.
Outstanding interview! Note that I have, in the past, been highly critical of some mmorpg.com articles and interviews.
So far as this game goes, I thought the SoG concept of a "pre-game" contemporaneous with a closed beta was pretty lame. What a colossal waste of time, money and resources that could have gone into getting the real game launched.
I might have been on board for it if the DnL Devs had ever answered the question whether a SoG character would carryover into DnL. Maybe they have by now, but after seeing that question asked hundreds of times on their boards and never getting an answer, I concluded this game sucks and moved on.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I was an advocate of Dark and Light for quite some time... almost a fanboi. On the fateful day the SoG keys were released, I managed to get one during the 80 seconds it took for them all to go away. I downloaded the client and waited until they opened the server.... and waited... and waited some more. I watched the horror that was the IRC channel devoted to SoG's deployment, and saw how the poor volunteers that were supposed to help keep us informed could only lock the channel, state that they knew NOTHING and had NO ETA, and unlock it again.
Then I got to play. Oh... my... god.
SoG is a very very nice fractal landscape explorer. That is ALL it is. Combat was horrid, movement was difficult to control, framerate was terrible if anything BUT the landscape was on the screen. No help files to speak of, no dialogue telling you to talk to so-and-so to find your trainers.
I acknowledge that there is indeed a very SLIM chance that DnL will give us all the things that SoG did not. However, as a software developer myself, I would expect such a transformation to take at least another year... and I know they don't have that. If DnL doesn't hit the shelves in April, it never will.
As it stands, I'd try playing it again if someone gave me a free copy with a free month.... or if several friends whose opinions I trusted all told me it rocked... but I'm afraid that's not very likely. Without the influx of cash from a big launch, the company will find their funding will dry up... and so any hope the game has for future improvment will also fade.
Good luck guys! I'd look into lisencing that fractal world engine myself....
The biggest problem I have with SOG is that I don't have a clue what to do!!! There are no NPC's to guide you to where to go. My character is still in the newb zone with no clue as to how to get to where everyone else is. The quickstart guide is also lacking in this information.
Originally posted by jswish The biggest problem I have with SOG is that I don't have a clue what to do!!! There are no NPC's to guide you to where to go. My character is still in the newb zone with no clue as to how to get to where everyone else is. The quickstart guide is also lacking in this information.
LOL try moving, then oopsie, restarting and relogging..oppsie, says you are already in the game.wait a few days...try moving again..bingo! you got 35 feet! oopsie! you tried to turn, restart and try to relog..oopsie ...says you are already in the game..wait a few days...try finishing your turn...bingo! oopsie! where'd your pet go? ah well, off to explore until they answer the help request...oopsie! someone else with a pet just logged in behind you...restart and relog..oppsie,,,says you are already in the game....
Originally posted by LilBoPeep WEll, it would seem that although the tough interview did indeed bring a little more integrity to the folks at mmorpg.com, it seems they have let that slip again. They (mmorpg.com) are allowing the developer/spammer/poster at the DNL forums here to STICKY threads regarding SOG. EVen though, this last interview makes it clear that SOG is NOT DNL (supposedly), the folks here at mmorpg.com dont give a rats behind and will whore themselves no matter what. Disappointing mmorpg.com, disappointing indeed.
uhm, i understand your reasoning, but since the (ex-)hype is about dnl, but sog is the one currently ongoing in connection of sorts to dnl, why shouldn't it be discussed here? or stickied? look at the amounts of replies, people want to let of steem regarding this whole "affair".
As a "sticky" it is deemed to mean "informative" and "need to know". A sticky about spammed screenshots is not.
As a developer, I know how hard things can be at times, and since SoG is not DnL they can still uses lessons learned so that they do not end up in DnL - so with development knowledge I tend to be a little more forgiving about the problems SoG has had... however...
Here is my personal opinion about the whole thing....
I have followed DnL for YEARS! wow something like early 2003
Back when this game was in its early development, it had things that were extremely new to the mmorpg world, it was the scenary, the massive world, weather systems, and so on that really caught my attention.
When SoG was getting close to release I became very excited - till the day we were supposed to download SoG and wow all the spots were taken in just under a few minutes, didnt even have a chance to try SoG...
I was pretty disapointed. But held my excitement.
Soon all the negative came out like a flood - and I admit it was quite effecting my opinion about even wanting to follow this game anymore - and continue my own project and fly my flight sims till something worth playing comes out...
Well I guess im rattled by the entire SoG thing... but it sounds as if things are improving, and somwhere deep down inside I have a feeling this game will be a hit... maybe not to the extent of WoW, but it still might.
I'm waiting for "We did not under-perform. You over-expected" shtick. Sadly, I've been warned that I cannot use this snake-oil statement in my performance review.
I have to thank Jackdog for planting the seed of doubt in mind, that flowered and blossomed with every passing month. Once the pre-order was announced, I completely switched off and moved on.
That initial seed? Remember when there was an video released as a WIP [work in progress] - primarily focusing on the game engine and combat - except that the video was released primarily to show how well DnL works on sub-par Pcs.
/Boggle.
Run that past me again? A promo was released to display the DnL engine, especially how combat would look and feel but a low spec version as a marketing tool? That does NOT make sense!
I remember Jackdog posting his skepticism and receiving flak over his negativity by people using the official line about the Devs wishing to show how even a low spec version runs. A few other posters, including myself, chimed in with Jackdog to voice our concern because a promo is used to display a product with all the bells and whistles to PROMOTE (hence, promo) the product. I didn't and still cannot fathom the muddled thinking behind releasing a video of the low spec version of the game engine, and expecting people to buy the line, 'If this is how well a low spec version runs, imagine a high spec version!'.
Beyond the same, tired 2004 renderings and a decent movie of the game world (lovingly rendered, but absent of content), there is absolutely nothing to show save SoG - which is (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) a perk to Pioneers who pre-ordered DnL but is NOT a beta nor DnL.
Is SoG a beta? SoG is not a beta? SoG uses the same game engine? SoG does not use the same game engine?
"Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, Farlan would certainly want you to believe that his client "SoG" was made ten years ago and is not DnL. And they make a good case. Hell, I almost felt pity myself! But, ladies and gentlemen of the this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider. Ladies and gentlemen, this is DnL. SoG is a stand-alone game and is not a beta of DnL. But SoG was originally the DnL beta before it wasn't. Now think about it; that does not make sense!"
If DnL pulled an Horizons, I could almost understand (shooting for the moon, and missing). Instead, DnL are pulling a Mourning, and are making Egomancer blush.
Regards, Riotgirl
"If you think I'm plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in way over your head. I don't have a heart of gold or get nice. There are a lot nicer people coming up. We call them losers."
I purchased the game with high hopes. Everything went reasonably well (though I didn't care for the 'go to Bittorrent' to get the launcher routine) through the install. After I logged on and 'tried' to play it all went badly. Lagged seriously, no options to change things and generally dull graphics. I know that SoG is not DnL but it has me sadly rattled as to the ability of DnL to produce anything more than a 'large' but poor version of that which has been done before. The music is annoying, the graphics are low quality, and the fact that my high-end game machine couldn't move me more than at a 'drunkards wobble' left me with an extereme feeling of concern for the future.
Yes, they stuffed some 'cute' things into the game such as the pets and the 'X-treme' sports, but when I want to play a fantasy MMO, I don't worry about snowboarding or hang gliding. For such a high requirement, high rated game, I found SoG and the future (if it continues in the same vein) DnL a loe-end disappointment. I'll be asking for my money back ASAP. (An option if you are within the first 2 weeks, which is the only option in SoG to my liking, I am sorry to say.)
I just don't know what to think about this game...SoG was/is a really nightmare and I'm still very very sceptical about what's coming up in the end of this month.
Comments
Beta testers shouldn't be so critical of a game they're supposed to be testing, they are though. It's always a bad idea for a developer to release something to the public, even if it's just for testing, if it's unfinished and problematic.
Sorry for being profound, but I feel that I need to be.
In general, you are right. But the critical issue why everyone is so pissed is (for the most part I think) that DnL devs said that SOG is NOT a beta. People expected to play a completed game, well with some bugs maybe, with less content, maybe, but not with zero content, and half of the features that devs said WOULD be in SOG. That single fact that put everyone on the offensive towards SOG and Farlan in general. To put the oil into fire, later on Farlan (or someone from the devs) did confirm that SOG WAS actually a beta. But they did that AFTER preorders, AFTER even the game went live (or rather tried to go live since most of the time servers etiehr were down or were crashing people left and right).
In comparison with other games i betaed, WoW had by far the most stable beta, with E&B was the lest stable, but even E&B had a more or less playable game, and they fixed bugs fairly quickly.
I am the type of player where I like to do everything and anything from time to time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor - pre-WW2 genocide.
If you look back at Q&A #7 , dated Dec 5, 05 ( 8 days before SOG release) the interviewers first question was about it being a BETA. Farlan/AD did NOT refute this fact.
Then they came back and said it was NOT a Beta.
Then it WAS a BETA. (a few posts on the dnl forums prove this).
Now again, its not a BETA.
It appears that when things are going well, its an official BETA. When people find out really just how crappy it is in all respects, its NOT an official BETA.
Also appears that even though the game had not yet been released, Farlan stated the release went well and is going good????????
hmmmm, typo on the interview date mayhaps? Or did they take that long to answer the interviewers questions?
to previous poster Cholayna..
They ain't lying, just failing to meat the set goals. Due to the server problems everything has been delayed, that's what they say anyway..
Let's judge the game when it's released and functional, it's not fair to kick someone who's already lying down
Take my word for it, do not trust me!
LOL HA HA HA HA HA
I thought nothing can beat SOE and their load of crap with Star Wars Galaxies but it seems I was wrong!!! LOL
These guys from Dark and Light just took the Oscar-Nobelprize-PurpleHeart-Gold Medal of lies, deception, trickery and fraud!.
good interview, but dissappointing outcome, so to speak.
as many have pointed out, so do I believe that SoG is a form of a beta - not the game itself per se, but for the platform, i.e. server architecture, maintenance, etc. It is basically stated in the interview!
when i made such a similar statement in the DnL forums in November I think, man did I get spammed. now it seems, many seem to agree.
and even then I will think twice about it.
Doesn't give much confidence in the launch of DnL. Had considered the game, but haven't even been to the forums since the sog launch. Now I think I will only get it if all my online buddies will do
they are lies. Flat out. Bald-faced lies. Excuse after excuse does NOT make otherwise. Take a gander at alllll the Q&A's ----- riddled with flat out lies, half-truths and total hogwash. Developers knowingly stating facts that are untrue -- thats called a lie.
Kicking them while they are down? oh okay, lets just let them get a little more weasel in their maneuvers to the mmo community and pat them on the head, say it will be okay smoochikins and forget all about the bloody, torn up, ripped apart player over on the curb huh?
Yes. Its quite obvious the machinations this company and their cohort Alchemic Dreams have a mastery of the snake oil salesman down pat. Anything they say, they come back with "we really meant this", or semantics all the way." we said "should" not "will". And thus absolve themselves of the lie.
Making any sort of derogatory, even slightly detrimental, altho probably more constructive criticism if taken that way, is a no-no on their boards. You will be censored. You will be locked and closed. And in some cases, you will be banned - altho you are still free to play the crappy contraption they call a game. You will be flamed horribly. You will be called names, argued down with the most inane "reasonings" and finally, a new line will come that says this game is the end-all-be-all-of-all-mmo's.
Some of the Moderators on the forums are the developers themselves. They have even hired fanbois from the boards as developers! Then again, you have to wonder if the fanbois werent originally the developers anyway! Moderators have been caught in lies countless times. The backpeddling they do is laughable and good for some entertainment when you are bored. Alchemic Dreams , I think, are responsible for the forums? I know they are the GMs in the game itself and responsible for some of the ridiculous things they call "events". LOL Even when it screws up, due to lack of GM forethought, they come back and say "yes! thats exactly how we planned it!" LOL
Kicking them while they are down -- hmmmm-- as opposed to them ever being "up"? Hardly. There are tooo many reasons this game and the companies responsible for the current state of the fanbase and game itself why this game is, at its current state, a total sham. Read about the origins of the engine itself , a ways back...even that is in contention. Read about one of the current developers reputation and work history..contentuious. From the start this game and its company/companies have traveled a low road. By continuing on in the same path, they are going even lower. Wonder now if the path ahead, the higher one is even able to be seen on the horizon..big world or not.
WEll, it would seem that although the tough interview did indeed bring a little more integrity to the folks at mmorpg.com, it seems they have let that slip again.
They (mmorpg.com) are allowing the developer/spammer/poster at the DNL forums here to STICKY threads regarding SOG. EVen though, this last interview makes it clear that SOG is NOT DNL (supposedly), the folks here at mmorpg.com dont give a rats behind and will whore themselves no matter what.
Disappointing mmorpg.com, disappointing indeed.
Wow, big applause for mmorpg.com to pose such direct questions. I know it's a thin line because if they start asking too offensive questions developers will hesitate to appear in interviews, but I say better less interviews and then keep the hard line of questions than to appease developers and ask "soft" questions that really doesn't relay any substantial info to the readers here at mmorpg.com.
On another note, eventhough they clearly had some issues DnL devs apparently still has the balls to come out and say " hey, we made a mistake". That's lightyears ahead of $OE who just ignores their community and delete "rebellious" posts at will.
Yes, say your sorry with your fingers crossed behind your back, add a few more lies while you are "apologizing" and do the potential fanbase a favor by discounting a pre-order paid upfront and no refund even before they release it, still have the same bugs, same problems, delete "bad" posts and even suspend or ban the bad reporters entirely from the forums, after of course, the mods/devs (who are one and the same) flame you first!
much better eh? These guys are in the toilet.
DNL Beta testing pushed back to April.....earlier stated it was to reopen in March...no exact dates given for either
Now they are blaming the previous testers of "not doing their jobs" for the sorry state of the current game. Devs come back and say "internal testing has been ongoing for two years"
so they are blaming the testers , who are the devs, but not the devs cuz that would be bad, so the thread was locked.
They are also saying it would be certain death to DNL if they did NOT release in APril and they would prefer a release with the current state than it being pushed back.
They are also saying that a beta test is not really needed since its perfect in the internal testing....
*("they" being the fanbois and people "in the know" at their forum boards)
This game is truly entertaining just watching what they do and how they backpeddle and the bs they try to make fly.
Outstanding interview! Note that I have, in the past, been highly critical of some mmorpg.com articles and interviews.
So far as this game goes, I thought the SoG concept of a "pre-game" contemporaneous with a closed beta was pretty lame. What a colossal waste of time, money and resources that could have gone into getting the real game launched.
I might have been on board for it if the DnL Devs had ever answered the question whether a SoG character would carryover into DnL. Maybe they have by now, but after seeing that question asked hundreds of times on their boards and never getting an answer, I concluded this game sucks and moved on.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
I was an advocate of Dark and Light for quite some time... almost a fanboi. On the fateful day the SoG keys were released, I managed to get one during the 80 seconds it took for them all to go away. I downloaded the client and waited until they opened the server.... and waited... and waited some more. I watched the horror that was the IRC channel devoted to SoG's deployment, and saw how the poor volunteers that were supposed to help keep us informed could only lock the channel, state that they knew NOTHING and had NO ETA, and unlock it again.
Then I got to play. Oh... my... god.
SoG is a very very nice fractal landscape explorer. That is ALL it is. Combat was horrid, movement was difficult to control, framerate was terrible if anything BUT the landscape was on the screen. No help files to speak of, no dialogue telling you to talk to so-and-so to find your trainers.
I acknowledge that there is indeed a very SLIM chance that DnL will give us all the things that SoG did not. However, as a software developer myself, I would expect such a transformation to take at least another year... and I know they don't have that. If DnL doesn't hit the shelves in April, it never will.
As it stands, I'd try playing it again if someone gave me a free copy with a free month.... or if several friends whose opinions I trusted all told me it rocked... but I'm afraid that's not very likely. Without the influx of cash from a big launch, the company will find their funding will dry up... and so any hope the game has for future improvment will also fade.
Good luck guys! I'd look into lisencing that fractal world engine myself....
LOL try moving, then oopsie, restarting and relogging..oppsie, says you are already in the game.wait a few days...try moving again..bingo! you got 35 feet! oopsie! you tried to turn, restart and try to relog..oopsie ...says you are already in the game..wait a few days...try finishing your turn...bingo! oopsie! where'd your pet go? ah well, off to explore until they answer the help request...oopsie! someone else with a pet just logged in behind you...restart and relog..oppsie,,,says you are already in the game....
Quickstart guide doesnt tell ya that either.
As a "sticky" it is deemed to mean "informative" and "need to know". A sticky about spammed screenshots is not.
As a developer, I know how hard things can be at times, and since SoG is not DnL they can still uses lessons learned so that they do not end up in DnL - so with development knowledge I tend to be a little more forgiving about the problems SoG has had... however...
Here is my personal opinion about the whole thing....
I have followed DnL for YEARS! wow something like early 2003
Back when this game was in its early development, it had things that were extremely new to the mmorpg world, it was the scenary, the massive world, weather systems, and so on that really caught my attention.
When SoG was getting close to release I became very excited - till the day we were supposed to download SoG and wow all the spots were taken in just under a few minutes, didnt even have a chance to try SoG...
I was pretty disapointed. But held my excitement.
Soon all the negative came out like a flood - and I admit it was quite effecting my opinion about even wanting to follow this game anymore - and continue my own project and fly my flight sims till something worth playing comes out...
Well I guess im rattled by the entire SoG thing... but it sounds as if things are improving, and somwhere deep down inside I have a feeling this game will be a hit... maybe not to the extent of WoW, but it still might.
I still have a little flame of hope for DnL
Tatsit
Tantus Games
COO/Game Director
I'm waiting for "We did not under-perform. You over-expected" shtick. Sadly, I've been warned that I cannot use this snake-oil statement in my performance review.
I have to thank Jackdog for planting the seed of doubt in mind, that flowered and blossomed with every passing month. Once the pre-order was announced, I completely switched off and moved on.
That initial seed? Remember when there was an video released as a WIP [work in progress] - primarily focusing on the game engine and combat - except that the video was released primarily to show how well DnL works on sub-par Pcs.
/Boggle.
Run that past me again? A promo was released to display the DnL engine, especially how combat would look and feel but a low spec version as a marketing tool? That does NOT make sense!
I remember Jackdog posting his skepticism and receiving flak over his negativity by people using the official line about the Devs wishing to show how even a low spec version runs. A few other posters, including myself, chimed in with Jackdog to voice our concern because a promo is used to display a product with all the bells and whistles to PROMOTE (hence, promo) the product. I didn't and still cannot fathom the muddled thinking behind releasing a video of the low spec version of the game engine, and expecting people to buy the line, 'If this is how well a low spec version runs, imagine a high spec version!'.
Beyond the same, tired 2004 renderings and a decent movie of the game world (lovingly rendered, but absent of content), there is absolutely nothing to show save SoG - which is (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) a perk to Pioneers who pre-ordered DnL but is NOT a beta nor DnL.
Is SoG a beta? SoG is not a beta? SoG uses the same game engine? SoG does not use the same game engine?
"Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, Farlan would certainly want you to believe that his client "SoG" was made ten years ago and is not DnL. And they make a good case. Hell, I almost felt pity myself! But, ladies and gentlemen of the this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider. Ladies and gentlemen, this is DnL. SoG is a stand-alone game and is not a beta of DnL. But SoG was originally the DnL beta before it wasn't. Now think about it; that does not make sense!"
If DnL pulled an Horizons, I could almost understand (shooting for the moon, and missing). Instead, DnL are pulling a Mourning, and are making Egomancer blush.
Regards,
Riotgirl
"If you think I'm plucky and scrappy and all I need is love, you're in way over your head. I don't have a heart of gold or get nice. There are a lot nicer people coming up. We call them losers."
Yes, they stuffed some 'cute' things into the game such as the pets and the 'X-treme' sports, but when I want to play a fantasy MMO, I don't worry about snowboarding or hang gliding. For such a high requirement, high rated game, I found SoG and the future (if it continues in the same vein) DnL a loe-end disappointment. I'll be asking for my money back ASAP. (An option if you are within the first 2 weeks, which is the only option in SoG to my liking, I am sorry to say.)